THE WHALE SINKS--ALICE SUPPORTED BY THE MATE--A HAMMER-HEADED SHARK
APPEARS--ALICE'S ALARM--NUB CONQUERS THE HAMMER-HEAD--VOYAGE ON A
SEA-CHEST.
The huge monster rolling over, slowly sank head foremost into the depths
of the ocean; possibly from the oil in the case by some means or other
having escaped, thereby depriving it of its buoyancy--an occurrence
which occasionally takes place when, after a hard chase, a whale has
been captured, and the victors are about to tow it in triumph to their
ship; losing in consequence several hundred pounds worth of oil.
The mate and Nub found themselves dragged a considerable way under
water; but quickly coming up again, as they were striking out they
caught sight of the raft driving before the wind, and poor Alice
struggling in the water at some distance from them. Horror-struck at
the sight, they swam towards her, their hearts beating with anxiety lest
they should not be in time to reach the spot ere she sank beneath the
surface, or was seized by one of the ravenous sharks from which Nub had
just before so narrowly escaped. Happily the savage creatures had
darted down after the whale, eager to seize the strips of blubber which
had been cut off its back. So busily were they engaged, that they did
not take notice of the human beings thus left to their tender mercies.
The mate had been on a part of the whale nearest Alice, and was thus the
first to approach her. Seeing the impossibility of reaching the raft,
he shouted to Nub and told him to swim after it; he himself intending to
assist Alice, who was stretching out her arms and piteously calling to
him for help.
Walter, who had gone off into a state of dreamy unconsciousness as he
lay stretched on the raft, on hearing Alice shriek out at the moment she
was dragged into the water, started up, his senses completely
bewildered, and instead of lowering the sail, stood waving his hands,
and incoherently shrieking out to her to come to him. The mate shouted
to him to lower the sail; but he did not understand the order, and
continued leaping frantically about the raft, waving his hands and
shrieking as before. The consequence was that the raft got further and
further away, at a rate which gave but little hope that Nub would
overtake it. The mate's brave heart almost died within him at the
thought that not his life only, but that of the little girl and Nub,
would be sacrificed. Nub was exerting himself to the utmost. Never had
he swam so fast. But he soon saw that all his efforts would not enable
him to overtake the raft. Again and again he shouted to Walter to lower
the sail: Walter only shrieked louder in return, calling him to come to
his help--and Nub expected every moment to see him leap into the water,
when, in all probability, he would be drowned. Still the brave black
persevered.
"Lower de sail, Massa Walter, lower de sail!" he shouted; "you all right
if you do dat. De mate save Missie Alice, so no fear about her. Lower
de sail! Oh, de poor boy gone mad!"
In vain Nub shouted; Walter only waved his hands more frantically, till,
overcome by terror, he sank down exhausted on the raft, and Nub saw that
it would be impossible to overtake it while it continued running at its
present speed. The only hope was that the wind might drop, or shift,
and bring it back to them. This, however, was barely probable; the
breeze was blowing fresh, and the light raft, having now no longer their
weight on it, skimmed swiftly over the surface. Still Nub persevered in
endeavouring to obey the mate's orders; he was ready to swim on till he
sank exhausted. Happily he was as much at home in the water as on
shore, and by turning on his back or treading water, or swimming in a
variety of other ways, could keep up for several hours together.
He turned his head round and saw that the mate had reached Alice and was
supporting her in his arms. "De mate swim well, I know, so he keep up
de little girl while I go after de raft," he said to himself, and he
again made way; but though he swam rapidly, the raft skimmed along at a
still faster rate, and had he not even yet trusted to the possibility of
either a change of wind or a calm, he would have given up the attempt as
hopeless. He thought, too, that Walter might perhaps regain his senses,
and do what alone could preserve his own life and that of his friends.
Left by himself on the raft, he must inevitably perish as well as they.
Inspired by this hope, the gallant black pursued his course undaunted by
the recollection of the shoal of ravenous sharks which he knew were in
the neighbourhood, or by the want of any object, as far as he could see
before him, on which to rest. Fearful as was his condition, it was to
become still more terrible. He had just glanced round and shouted to
the mate and Alice to keep up their courage, when, as he again turned
his face towards the raft, he saw, not twenty fathoms from him, a
hideous head, such as the morbid imagination sometimes pictures during a
dreadful dream. The front was of immense width, with large, savage eyes
glaring out at either side; while below appeared a large mouth, full of
formidable teeth; the body, as Nub knew, being in proportion to the size
of the head. It was indeed an enormous specimen of the hideous zygaena,
or hammer-headed shark, so frequently observed about the coast of the
South Sea islands, and scarcely less voracious and formidable than the
terrible white shark, the sailor's hated foe. Its body was
comparatively slender, but its head was dilated on each side to a
prodigious extent,--the form being that of a double-headed hammer, from
which it takes the name of "the hammer-headed shark."
Nub gazed at the creature, but his courage did not fail him. It had
apparently only just come to the surface to gaze about it, and had not
yet discovered the human beings floating near. The black had often seen
the shark bravely attacked by the natives of Otaheite and other islands,
who encounter it fearlessly as they swim off through the raging surf,
and never fail to return victorious to the shore. There was no time,
however, for consideration, for with a few turns of its tail the monster
might be up to him. He had, fortunately, a large, sharp sheath-knife
sticking in his girdle; he drew it, and keeping his eye on the shark, he
struck out so as to gain a position rather behind the creature's head,
which was turned from him. At the same moment that Nub caught sight of
the zygaena the mate also saw it; he fully expected that it would dash
at the black and seize him in its dreadful jaws. The shark, however,
was either of a sluggish nature, or perhaps gorged with food, for its
head remained above water without moving from the spot where it had at
first appeared. The mate endeavoured to prevent Alice from seeing the
hammer-head, but her eyes unfortunately fell on it.
"Oh, Mr Shobbrok, what is that dreadful creature?" she cried out.
"Will it kill poor Nub? Oh, what can we do! what can we do!" She did
not appear to think so much of her own and the mate's danger as of that
of the black.
The mate, for a moment, was almost unnerved, for he felt his utter
inability to defend himself or the little girl should the monster attack
them; still, like a brave man, he summoned up all his courage, and
considered how he could possibly tackle it and defend Alice. He looked
around to see if there was any spar or other floating object near at
hand on which he could place her while he fought the shark. Could he
find a spar, he would push it in the shark's mouth as it swam towards
him; he had likewise his clasp-knife hung round his neck, but the blade,
he feared, was too blunt to be of much service; he opened it, however,
and held it in his teeth ready to use. As he glanced round he saw the
chest which he had observed when on the back of the whale, but it was
too far off to be of any avail in the present emergency. In the
meantime he had kept a vigilant watch on the hideous hammer-head, to be
ready for an encounter should it dart towards him.
He had also been watching the proceedings of Nub. He soon saw that the
black was manoeuvring to gain an advantage over the shark, which did not
appear to observe him. Poor Alice, overcome with terror, had almost
fainted in his arms; he urged her to keep up her courage.
"Don't be afraid, Miss Alice; don't be afraid, my child," he said
soothingly. "There is a big chest not far off, which will serve as a
raft for you, and it will support Nub and me while we swim alongside it.
See--see! Nub is going to tackle the shark; and he well knows, depend
on it, what he is about. I have heard that the natives in these parts
do not fear the creature, terrible as it looks, and I don't see why we
should. Come, we will swim towards the chest, and Nub will join us when
he has finished off Jack Shark,--which he fully intends doing, depend on
that."
The mate, as he spoke, began to swim in the direction of the chest; but
he soon found that, having Alice to support, he could make but slow
progress; he therefore recommenced treading the water, turning his face
towards the shark, that he might be the better able to encounter it
should it make a dash at him. He now saw that Nub, having got close to
the creature, his long knife in his hand, was swimming up alongside it.
He expected, in another moment, that he would plunge his weapon into the
shark's body; but instead of that, what was his surprise to see him
suddenly leap on its back and dig the fingers of one hand into its left
eye. If the hammer-head had been torpid before, it now made ample
amends by its sudden activity; off it darted along the surface, Nub
holding up its head to prevent it from diving, while with his right hand
he struck his knife with all his might sometimes before him and
sometimes behind him, inflicting deep wounds in its back and sides. It
seemed surprising that the zygaena could endure them, but its wonderful
vitality is well-known--the terrific gashes which Nub inflicted in no
way impeding its rapid progress. At first it seemed to be coming
towards the mate and Alice; and though it would not have been able to
bite them, it might have inflicted a blow which would have stunned them
both. Nub, however, managed by hauling at its head to turn it, and it
swept by, forming large circles round and round the spot where they
floated. Its speed, however, from its loss of blood, began somewhat to
diminish, and Nub could evidently guide it with greater ease than at
first.
Seeing this, the mate shouted to him, "Steer the brute, if you can, to
yonder chest, and bring it up to us as soon as possible."
"Ay, ay, massa," answered Nub; "I finish de brute off soon. It not got
much more go in him. Cheer up, Missie Alice; I no tink dis a steady
horse for you, or I ask you to have a ride on it." [See Note 1.]
This remark did more than anything else to restore Alice's courage, for
she knew that the black felt perfectly certain of gaining the victory.
Nub, who had already deprived the monster of sight, continued to dig his
knife into its head, guiding it towards the chest, which he thus rapidly
reached. He then, turning half round while he held up its head, stuck
his knife as far back as he could reach behind him, persevering in his
efforts till all movement in its tail had ceased.
"Dere, you go and feed your ugly cousins!" he exclaimed, giving it a
last dig,--when, leaping from its back, he threw himself on the top of
the chest; while the shark, its life almost extinct, rolled over on its
back with its head downwards.
Taking off a lanyard attached to the chest, Nub secured it to the handle
at one end, and after resting for a few seconds, again threw himself
into the water and struck out for the mate and Alice.
"There, my dear child, I told you so; the brave black has killed the
shark, and he will soon have the chest up to us. It will serve as a
boat for you," said Mr Shobbrok.
"But where is Walter? What has become of the raft?" exclaimed Alice,
who had hitherto been unaware of her brother's unhappy condition, and
had not noticed that the raft had glided far away from them.
"We must try and overtake Walter as soon as we get you safe on the
chest," answered the mate. "It will be a long swim; but we must hope to
get something to support ourselves, for I fear that the chest will not
hold us all."
"Oh, what can have made Walter sail away again?" asked Alice; and then
another thought seemed to strike her, as the mate did not immediately
answer. "Oh, tell me, Mr Shobbrok," she exclaimed,--"was the raft
drawn down by the whale, and has my dear brother been drowned?"
"The raft is all right, and I hope Walter is on it," he answered, after
a minute's hesitation. "We may come up with it before long. Don't
think any more about it just now. See Nub; he's bringing the chest to
us,--and a fine large sea-chest it is too, and by-and-by we will open
it, and ascertain what it contains. I suspect that it's a carpenter's
chest; though, as it floats high out of the water, it cannot contain
many tools, but it may possibly have some which will be useful to us
when we get on shore."
"When will that be, do you think?" asked Alice.
"There's no saying exactly, but we will hope for the best," answered the
mate evasively. "See, here comes Nub. He will soon be up with us, and
we will then begin our voyage."
The mate had no little difficulty in speaking; for, strong as he was,
the exertion of treading the water so long was very considerable. He
was very thankful when at length Nub got up to them.
"Here is de chest," exclaimed the black. "Now de sooner Missie Alice on
de top of it de better." Fortunately there were several turns of rope
round the chest, by means of which Nub held to one side, and the mate
balancing it, enabled Alice to climb up on the other. He then told her
to lie down along it, exactly in the centre, so that it might be as well
balanced as possible. "All right, Missie Alice?" asked Nub, looking up
at her while he grasped the rope fastened to the chest; the mate, who
required a few minutes' rest, supporting himself on the other.
"Yes, I feel very secure," said Alice; "and I only wish that you and Mr
Shobbrok could get up and sit on it also."
"We should roll it over if we did, and tumble you into the water," said
the mate. "It will afford us ample support if we merely hold on by each
side. Are you all right, Nub?"
"Yes, yes, Massa Shobbrok; all right," answered Nub.
"Then off we go," cried the mate; "and I hope that before long we may
come up with the raft, or that the captain's boat, or some stranger, may
pick us up." Saying this, the mate took hold of one of the beckets
which Nub had secured for the purpose, and struck out boldly to the
westward.
Only strong swimmers and very determined men could have kept up as they
did. It is true that the chest afforded them some support, but they had
thus only one hand to swim with; still they made considerable progress,
shoving on with their feet and striking out with the hands left at
liberty. The wind was fair and the water smooth, or they would have
been unable to make any progress. On and on they swam. When the arm
they were using for propelling themselves grew weary, they shifted
sides; by which they were able to continue their exertions much longer
than they would otherwise have done. Alice remained perfectly still,
though she now and then spoke to the mate or Nub. The former found it
very difficult to answer her questions, as again and again she asked
when they should overtake Walter, or how far off the land was likely to
be. "Oh, how I wish that we were near enough to see it!" she added.
"It may cheer you to know that when I was on the top of the whale I
fancied that I caught sight of some high land away to the westward,"
answered the mate. "It was very faint, and as I felt uncertain, I did
not like to run the risk of disappointing you; but I have been thinking
over the matter, and am persuaded that it was land. If it was, we shall
have a better chance than I had hoped for of reaching it before long."
"You thought dat land, Massa Shobbrok; so did I. Hurrah! Swim away,
boys! swim away! We soon get over de sea!" shouted Nub, endeavouring to
raise his own spirits, as well as to encourage Alice. Thus they went
on, but the mate could not help secretly feeling that the probability of
their escaping was small indeed.
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Note 1. The author must express the surprise he felt when he met with
the account of Nub's wonderful ride on the zygaena. However, it was too
good to be omitted, though he must leave his readers to judge of its
probability. He would advise any of them who may visit the new British
possession of the Fiji Islands, should they fall in with one of the
monsters, not to attempt a similar exploit.